Costin criticizes use of Alexian Field skyboxes
Schaumburg mayoral candidate Brian Costin is criticizing the village and Schaumburg Park District for giving elected officials the right of first refusal to the two governments' skyboxes at Alexian Field, the minor league baseball stadium they co-own.
But Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson said many members of the public also benefit from the skyboxes, the use of which neither financially rewards village officials nor denies the Schaumburg Flyers additional revenue at the ballpark.
Costin, however, calls the skyboxes a “perk” that lulled village officials into looking the other way as the Flyers' unpaid rent piled up, leading to still pending lawsuit.
“Elected officials are getting the benefit of a facility that is being paid for by the taxpayers,” Costin said. “It's shocking that elected officials have been using this as their personal playground rather than being stewards of the taxpayers.”
The village and park district have similar policies in which tickets for the 25 seats in each government's skybox are divided among three of their board members for each Flyers home game.
It is then up to the discretion of the trustees, village clerk and park commissioners for how their tickets will be distributed, Larson said.
Oftentimes they are given to not-for-profit groups like the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts or Women In Need Growing Stronger (WINGS), either for direct use or to raffle off as a fundraiser, Larson added.
The intention almost always is to introduce members of the public to the ballpark and the Flyers in hopes of creating new repeat customers, he said.
Larson rejected Costin's suggestion that political or financial motives play any role in the distribution of the tickets, or that they've created a less than diligent business relationship with the Flyers.
“The board has been very generous in letting members of the public use the skybox,” Larson said. “We can't fit 76,000 people into that skybox, but maybe we can try.”
Larson also said there's no relationship between the use of the Alexian Field skyboxes and the Flyers' overdue rent.
“We have not been ‘looking the other way,'” Larson said. “That's silly. That's ridiculous. We haven't let (the Flyers) off on their bills. We've been diligent in pursuing that. We haven't been cozying up to the Flyers.”
Costin suggested that at a time when the Flyers are in need of money to pay their back rent, giving away free tickets to the skyboxes is reducing the market for paid tickets.
But Schaumburg Village Manager Ken Fritz said the Flyers have never sold out the available skyboxes. It would be a welcome problem if the Flyers asked for the village and park district's skyboxes back because their own supply had sold out, he added.
Costin's research initially suggested to him that the village and park district themselves had “won back” the skyboxes in a 2005 payment settlement with the Flyers.
But Fritz said that settlement merely formalized a policy that already was in place by the time of the stadium's construction in 1998.
One of Costin's main campaign issues is his belief the village should not dabble in the private sector or own facilities like Alexian Field, the Schaumburg convention center or Schaumburg Regional Airport.